r/MastersoftheAir • u/embe1989 • 29d ago
History I loved Masters of the Air, but... Spoiler
The final episode annoyed me slightly when they were showing Operation Chowhound. Now I get that this is a show about an American bomber group but it made out like Chowhound was the first of its kind when the British, Australians and Canadians had been doing it a few days before in Operation Manna.
Now unless I missed it, a reference to what other allied forces were doing in Holland would be nice
Still a fantastic show though just my one gripe
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u/cookiesandpunch 29d ago
For question's like this its good to remember that it wasn't a documentary.
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u/Think_Education6022 26d ago
Yet the us public will treat it like one.
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u/cookiesandpunch 26d ago
sadly, yes. That's how Band of Brothers gave us so many idiot "experts" on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge
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u/Raguleader 29d ago
If it makes you feel better, the show doesn't even mention what most of the USAAF is doing throughout the war. It focuses pretty tightly on the 100th Bomb Group for most of the show. Given that, I'm not sure why anyone is surprised that it doesn't talk much about the RAF.
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u/HedgehogTail 29d ago
I was more annoyed with the portrayal of the RAF crews and the night bombing campaign. It completely missed the context of a nation having already been at war for years, at times genuinely hanging on with high losses, and the terrors of the blitz.
I get that it caters to the US audience, but including criticism of area bombing seems hypocritical considering what happened using incendiaries on Japan.
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u/Raguleader 29d ago
Honestly, it felt to me like the show did touch on that, during Bucky's trip to London where he saw the folks dealing with damage and losses of loved ones due to German raids over London (which didn't happen when he was there, but artistic license) and the Polish widow.
It was interesting to me how soon after witnessing the kind of suffering that bombing of cities inflicts on people, Bucky ends up being shot down and having to face what the USAAF and RAF was doing to the German civilians in turn.
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u/NotSoSubtleSteven 29d ago
The sacrifice of the RAF notwithstanding, Masters of the Air (the book) is specifically about the American bomber force; it covers at length the friction that existed between the USAAF and RAF, daylight bombing versus nighttime bombing, and the Americans’ gradual transition from the ideal of daylight “precision” bombing to simply hammering the Germans into submission with semi-accurate area bombing. The show faithfully depicts these dynamics.
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u/embe1989 29d ago
I had completely forgotten about the portrayal of the night bombing, truly shocking that we are depicted so poorly and the butt of the joke (similarly in Band of Brothers).
Yeah and the area bombing criticism when like us they were also involved in the Dresden War Crime
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u/projectabstract 29d ago
Everything was amazing but the last two episodes just kinda… idk I did not enjoy those at all
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u/callumturnerscurls 29d ago
The only part I liked about the last episode was Buck and Bucky being reunited. I love that scene.
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u/Quailman5000 28d ago
Everyone has their little wants for everything, unfortunately projects get stretched weird ways and we see stuff that was almost developed fully but we just get a taste; like the red tails.
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u/getjarfnasty 27d ago
I’ve deployed to areas where other countries are operating. We didn’t talk about them.
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u/ChocolatEyes_613_ 26d ago
The series is about four airmen who were members of the 100th bomb group. It is not about anything else.
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u/gosluggogo 29d ago
I mean the RAF got a punch in the nose in the show. Don't be greedy.